


A TALE FROM THE MOUNTAINS

by andy_beloved



Category: Realm of the Elderlings - Robin Hobb
Genre: F/M, Other
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-24
Updated: 2020-05-24
Packaged: 2021-03-03 02:42:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,272
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24357505
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/andy_beloved/pseuds/andy_beloved
Summary: A story from before "Assassin's Apprentice" from the perspective of Fitz's mother. My account of how a mountain woman met Chivalry Farseer and gave birth to a son that believes was abandoned. I took many liberties with it.This also fits the prompt "Mother" for a Realm of the Elderlings event that is happening on Tumblr about the women of the series.
Comments: 4
Kudos: 9





	A TALE FROM THE MOUNTAINS

I grew up in a small farm near Moonseye. I was a sheltered child surrounded by animals most of my life and I never had many friends. The ones I had I lost by forgetting that people don't have the unbreakable attachment to one another that most animals do. The little house on the hill was far from civilization as it was my mother’s wish. We enjoyed a peaceful life surrounded by nature and my days were full with tending the animals while my mother planted vegetables nearby. 

I was sixteen when I met him. My father was a guardsman at Moonseye and that fateful day he had forgotten an important scroll. My mother requested me to carry it to him and I accepted the chance for adventure eagerly. Mother was never comfortable with letting a girl alone to explore the outside world, but there was no other way. Father was always saying that Chivalry was one of the most respectable men he knew and that his men were the most loyal and obedient he ever met. The road I had to take to reach my father was not well travelled so my mother believed that no one would do me harm and gave me a confident smile as she sent me on my way.

That was the first time I adventured so far from home without any sheep to guard me. The excitement of this short lived adventure and the fear that I might meet folk on the way made my feet move faster than they had to and it didn’t take me long to reach the fortified building with the tall wooden doors that made me feel as small as a child. I gave the scrolls to my father and he presented me to the man talking next to him. Chivalry was as tall as myself and my young heart leapt at the contrast of his dark skin in the snowy landscape. The warmth in his eyes sent a tremble down my spine and he looked at me with the knowing smile of confident good-looking men. Chivalry thanked me for the trouble and I rushed back home in a foolish attempt to run from this newfound sentiment. 

The following days I anxiously hoped my father would need me to carry messages for him again, but he never did. My days were as dull as before my short journey to the fortress where I met the foreign prince. My ears twitched at my father’s mention of the stranger. He believed him to be one of the greatest men alive and his admiration for the man’s wits and leadership sunk into my soul. My father’s beliefs about the man became my own and with every new information I felt as if I knew him and met him every day. A ridiculous thought, but I was young and he was the first man to stir my heart. I was doomed to sigh myself to sleep thinking about him and have his dark eyes invade my dreams. 

***

I became more adventurous after the trust my parents had in me reaching Moonseye alone. It was such a small taste of freedom and yet I felt my heart race as a young colt on the vast green pastures. I started to crave that feeling and when I was shepherding far from home I decided to explore. I gave a look to the flock to keep them still and a warning to care for each other while I was gone. 

M y oldest companion followed me. The black sheep moved silently beside me sharing the excitement and the fear of the trouble we might get into. I let my hand sink into her thick wool in a comforting gesture and that seemed to calm her. We found a small cottage surrounded by tall trees. It seemed damaged and abandoned, but I didn’t dare go near it. We kept our eyes open and our ears attent ive to any new sound that may mark the presence of life. After a few hours the sheep surrendered to curiosity and moved towards the little place. I followed her with the beating of my heart almost deafening me. It was a dirty old thing and the door was open so I accepted the invite to come in. The heavy layers of dust assured me the place was unwanted and forgotten by past owners and there was a hole in the ceiling. I decided to make of the little cabin my new project  and my world away from home . It could be  my own hiding place. I went back to my mother with a secret smile on my lips after gathering the sheep.

***

I went to the cabin the next day and I left my old friend with her woolly companions. The way to the cottage was long and tiring.  T he small structure was far from the road and surrounded by enough trees to be invisible to anyone that wasn’t looking for it. I did my best to clean the place and make it come to life. It was old and I couldn’t salvage every bit of wood, but when I was done the single room was presentable and I could imagine myself spending a joyous afternoon in there. I even attempted to mend the ceiling. I broke one of the old chairs and made a mental note to be careful of the other one. I could sit on the floor or stand by the table if needed. After examining the product of my hard work I prepared a list of what I needed to bring to make the place feel like a temporary home. There was a table for two and a bucket in the corner. It wasn’t much, but it was all I needed to spend the afternoons. 

The day after I decorated the room with flowers I caught on the way, some blankets, cutlery, cups, plates and a kettle for boiling water. I brought biscuits from home and sat proudly on the floor eating while drinking mint tea and observing my secret home. My heart was so full with joy and my bones so tired I forgot myself and slept for hours. I woke up with the face of a dark sheep next to mine. My friend had come to warn me that it was late and I hastily got up and made my way towards my parents’ house.

I went to my hideout every day and the sheep started to feel restless and abandoned. Chivalry was on my mind as much as the little shack and there was almost no space for my old companions. When their emotions started to blend with mine, I tried to not leave them alone and uncared for as often. I still couldn’t resist visiting the cottage every week and feel the air of freedom around me while I worked on a new painting or a story. The place allowed me to find new pastimes that were dear to my heart and perfect my newfound abilities. After two months without seeing the dark prince I started to believe I would be able to forget him. He was a foolish temptation and no good would come from it. Let him slide into the sea of forgetfulness along with the others. 

***

As if aware of my intentions the man came to meet me the next day. I was looking after the sheep in the greener pastures farther from my house. My first thought was that the man must have gotten himself lost, but he smiled as he revealed it was me he was looking for. He expressed his disappointment that I didn’t go back to meet him again with a mocking grin. Since I didn’t return to him, he thought he might as well look for me. How pretentious of him to think I was so desperate for his affections that I wouldn’t continue my life as if we never met. I told him so and he laughed. I felt my face warm with anger and turned to go back home with the sheep, but he grabbed my hand and apologized. He was not used to not being liked.

‘My pretenses to be the perfect child made me believe there was truly no faults in myself and, for that, fair maiden, I apologize. It will be my pleasure to compensate you with a warm cup of tea if you just follow me back to Moonseye.’

‘I will not. You are a stranger still, sir. Not only a stranger, but a pompous one. I have no desire to meet you again.’ 

He looked stricken as if no one ever spoke to him so. I reminded myself that he was a foreign prince and that his Buck customs were much different from the ones of the mountain folk. I felt suddenly ashamed of my lack of knowledge, but in the next moment I had convinced myself that he had been rude enough for me to bother to learn how a person of his importance should be treated.

He squeezed my hand and with an unsure smile he pleaded for me to accompany him. I couldn’t no matter how much I wanted to. I would never go far with someone without telling mother and father. For my own protection they demanded to know my whereabouts every moment of my day. After much insistence on his part I relented. ‘In two days, then. Let us meet here and you can bring as much food and beverages as you see fit for a Buckkeep prince to apologize.’ He nodded with a smile that reached his eyes and with one last squeeze he let go of my hand.

We met three times after that day. Our first lunch together surrounded by sheep and flowers was filled with merry conversation and laughter. We opened our hearts to one another the way only strangers that will never meet again can and we held hands and kissed between flirtatious looks. We weren’t as foolish as to think this would last. We were merely determined to make the sweetest memories  out  of our  days together.

The next time we met I took him to my little hideout after making him promise to never reveal the location. My black sheep and I guided him through the trees and he didn’t complain about the long way and difficult passages. He complimented my work and kissed my scarred hands in admiration. He built a fire and mended the broken chair while I prepared tea. We sat at the table surrounded by the scent of mint and marigolds. I blushed at the thought that we looked like a married couple living a modest life together in our small shack. A stupid, impossible thought. Were he any other man than a foreign prince it wouldn’t be such a far fetched fancy, but knowing who he was I had no delusions about the future. I wanted to make our days so special that both of us would recall them until the end of our lives.

‘I leave for Buck after tomorrow.’ His voice ended my thoughts.

‘The day after tomorrow?’ I repeated stupidly. He nodded and a silence fell over us as we realized that our time together was coming to an end.

I pinched my lips as my mind was made. ‘Meet me here tomorrow in the afternoon.’

‘Is that a command?’ He asked flirtatiously.

‘Yes.’ I met his eyes and my seriousness wiped the jokester smile off his face.

‘As you wish, miss.’ He grabbed both my hands and kissed them, his eyes never leaving mine.

***

The dark man came unguarded. I knew the moment I saw him that this wasn't the  wisest idea I ever had. I wanted  him with the certainty of the inexperienced. He greeted  me with a soft kiss on the lips and I stretched my arms around  his neck as I pulled him closer, grabbing the coarse curls of his hair. I guided him to the soft blankets on the swept floor. He undressed me slowly, kissing every inch he revealed of my skin. I wanted the moment to last forever, but my hands and my heart were eager and I almost ripped his shirt making  him snort with laughter as  he  grabbed me and kiss ed my lips again. ‘I love you’. He whispered the lie as his eyes met mine. ‘I love you too.’ I mindlessly followed his line. I drowned in the pleasure of his mouth against mine and his body on my bared skin, not thinking about what it might do to me. Our bodies came together in the culmination of curiosity and first attraction. We made love as a goodbye.  We were p erfect children caught in a sweet moment of disobedience. We were young and foolish and in many ways unaware of how cruel the world could be. 

*****

The day Keppet was born was the happiest day of my life.  He had the same dark features and the same curly hair as my prince.  Having Keppet in my life gave me strength to face the constant fights and reproachful looks with my head held high. 

My mother couldn't look at him. Keppet was a constant reminder of the man that disgraced me. My father shared her distaste. He had met the men that bedded me and talked about him with admiration in the past. In the past. Ever since my belly started to swell and I couldn't conceal the truth anymore the hatred my parents had for Chivalry  knew no bounds . That hatred included their own daughter and  instantly  shattered the perceived image of perfection they had of me. They treated me as no more than a whore and did their best to hide Keppet and myself from the few folk they knew. 

My father got a guardsman position in another fortress since he couldn’t stand to glance upon Chivalry’s people any longer and he entered our home in drunk anger most days. I hid Keppet in my room when father was home and concealed him among the sheep during the day, away from my mother’s eyes.  I hugged and kissed my child every night  so he knew there was someone that loved him  and  I  saw him grow looking more like his father every day.

Despite the cold looks of my parents, they helped me raise Keppet the best they could. Some days I could even see a glint of their affection for the babe. After the first year they got used to him, but it was still difficult for them to look my child in the eyes.  Keppet  brightened my days with every new discovery of his child’s mind and his laughter was the purest of sounds. When he was old enough to walk I took him to the closest market. We lived so far from other folk that there was no fear of being recognized. Still, my mother wrapped Keppet in layers of clothes as best she could for my father was certain that anyone that met Chivalry would recognize him as his. My child never let go of my hand and his curious eyes couldn’t focus, for there were so many wonderful novelties around.

Keppet was suspicious of others and everyone assumed he was a quiet boy, but we spent long afternoons with the sheep and he talked with no end. He liked to play with the  farm animals and they saw him as one of their own. Keppet particularly liked our old horse and the sheep. He helped me with my everyday chores. We started the day by feeding the ducks and the chickens, then we tended to the horse and went for a walk with the sheep in the afternoon.  Keppet was beside me when I burried the black sheep that was my oldest friend and his tiny hands attempted to  clear my face of tears and comfort me. He spent his days with me surrounded by animals and claimed that  was all he neede d.  I started to worry that he wouldn't be able to find a helping hand  among human kind . The thought that he might become like me made me weep. I wanted my child to have the full life of adventure that was never a possibility to me.

Sometimes Keppet had terrible nightmares and he started wailing in the dark. Every time he cried, I would put my arms around him and hold him tight to silently assure him that I was with him and that I would protect him forever.

When he turned five years old I took him to my old hiding place. It was dusty again and the heavy rains ruined the poor job I had done on the ceiling, but it was still a place I could call my own. Keppet helped me clean and make it a pleasant little shack to spend the afternoons again. 

My son liked to sit on the floor with paper and coloured inks and attempt to write and  paint . He had a fine eye for detail and his plump trembling hand traced lines that closely resembled my own. When I first admired his work, I complimented his newfound ability and he smiled brightly at me. I kissed his curly head and pulled him closer to read a story I had written for him about a wolf that befriended a golden bird. He was always attentive to my stories and  the most clever child. That year we spent many afternoons in blissful peace in our hiding place.

***

Now I must force myself to write the most terrible memory of my life. It happened on the coldest night of the year and the snow fought against the wild wind outside. My mother and I stitched old clothes by the fire while waiting for father to come home. Keppet was sitting on the floor between us with an old scroll, reading one of my stories by himself. He was such a beautiful and clever child. We felt the cold wind as the door opened and the red face of my father stepped into the light. He had been drinking heavily and I could smell wine on his breath as he grabbed Keppet’s hand violently and stepped back into the night with my child stumbling after him. I didn’t realize immediately what had happened and I stood up from the chair in silent horror. When I realized they wouldn’t come back, I run after them forgetting I wore no more than an evening robe and soft shoes as my mother called after me.

Even in the dark, I recognized the road that led to Moonseye and my fear grew with each step. “Father, please” I begged him as my knees kept getting weaker and my feet started to freeze. The snow was heavy and clung to my lashes almost blinding me. I was losing my senses and imagined a tiny voice in the distance calling “mother, mother”. I fought against the snow with every remaining strength of my frozen bones. “Father, please, I beg you!” I screamed with despair in my voice as the tears started running through my cheeks. The white mantle of snow disoriented me and I could barely make out their shapes in the night. I thought I saw my father stop and I started to hope he would return and bring little Keppet to my arms. I moved as hastily as I could to get to them, but the old man bent down and the last thing I saw was a frozen chunk of ice. Everything went dark. 

***

I woke up in a warm bed with my mother beside me cleaning my face with a warm cloth and a severe look in her eyes. 

‘You shouldn’t have done that.’ She reprehended me. 

‘Where is Keppet?’ The words left my lips as fear engulfed me and tears started forming in my eyes.

‘He is not here.’ My mother turned her head away from me and got up, leaving the room and closing the door. 

My feet were frozen and despair made me unable to move. I wept in hope that the tears would wash away the misery in my heart. He took my son away from me. He took him to the Buck men in Moonseye and I couldn’t stop him. As my tears dried and my head cleared I realized I could still mend it. I could go to them and make them see it was a mistake. I got out of the bed and grabbed a heavy cloak to put around my shoulders. As I opened my room door, I crashed with the man I once called father.

‘Where are you going?’

‘To get my child.’ I set my chin with determination. 

The man gave me an angry look. ‘I sent him to his rightful place beside his father.’ 

My chin trembled. ‘He doesn’t want to be there.’

The man grabbed my arm and pushed me inside the room again. ‘He belongs to the Farseers now. He has nothing to do with us.’ He closed the door, giving me no opportunity to reply. 

I  attempted to run away several times , but all  I  accomplished  was  to always be under one of my imprisoner’s watchful eyes. I wasn’t able to be alone with the sheep anymore. I tried to persuade the gentle animals to help me, but they followed my mother’ s orders as much as they loved me and I could never force them  in to  disobedience . My father locked my room door every night and barred my window, turning into reality what I always knew. This place was a prison and I would never be able to escape.

Keppet was my sun and without him the world was a dark, cold and lonely place. Of my belongings I was allowed to keep paper and inks, the only things that kept me sane. 

*****

When the old man died, I convinced the woman to make the long travel to sell our goods near Buckkeep. We were poor and in the mountains what we had to sell was no novelty. Certainly the nuts and  porcupine quills would be more appreciated in Buck. I secretly wished to see Keppet again. I hoped he still remembered me and that I could  hold him once more  in my arms.  If the  silver -haired woman suspected of my intentions, she gave no sign of it.

Never before did I experience a long journey. I was tired and the possibility of seeing Keppet again closed my senses to the new views and scents around me. My back hurt as w e settled our goods in two mats and waited for  possible  costumers. My  ears and eyes were searching  for any sign of a boy with curly dark hair and  a joyful laugh . A young Chivalry approached  us  and my heart leapt. The young man was completing his purchase of a bag of nuts and I feared he would leave before I was able to force myself to react and stop him.

‘Keppet...’ I managed to let the name out of my trembling lips. He glanced at me with a confused look. ‘Keppet.’ I repeated, but there was still no recognition in his eyes. He looked back to the woman that was once his grandmother looking for support. He shrugged at me and turned to leave. I was going to lose him again.

‘Keppet!’ I screamed as loud as I could as the old woman grabbed my wrists. I tried to fight her as she whispered in my ear to be quiet. I thrashed and kicked to get free of her, but my mother had always been stronger than she looked and her truthful words about how the boy seemed healthy and had forgotten all about me brought me to my knees in tears. 

***

We made our way back to the mountains and I felt a cold spear through my heart as we passed Moonseye. I had no streng t h or reason to fight anymore. The confused look in Keppet’s eyes made me lose heart and still haunted me. Trying to bring him back with me was hopeless and no  less than a kidnapping. I had no part in his new life. I haven’t been a part of it in years. How useless I felt for all the failed attempts  to try to bring him back  when his father could provide a better life for him. How selfish of me to think he needed me. The despair entered my heart and froze it in cold acceptance of the reality. 

***

Reading these words make me feel ashamed of how delusional I was. The truth is my son was well cared for and I needed him more than he needed me. His noble family will dress him in glory and adorn him with silver. He has a life of opportunities in front of him and he looks so much like his father that I know him capable of winning every challenge that fate throws his way. Those thoughts comfort me and give me hope as I mend the relationship with my mother and help her with the farm. We are two lonely women now, but yesterday we were able to hire help and we are slowly prospering again. 

As I put these thoughts to paper I smile remembering my last memory of Keppet. In my mind a dark young man runs with the sun on his back in the streets of Buck to greet his friend in the red skirts.

  
  



End file.
